15 Omniscient Eyes
I left my dorm in search of my target. It was time I completed the quest.
[Tutorial Quest: Commit murder and have the news made public.]
[Reward: Promotion to Iron Villain League, ???]
[Failure: Death]
[Time Remaining: 33 hours 27 minutes]
After listening to what we had to do, Nutless spoke, "I can hack the surveillance. But it's not simple. I need manual access to the surveillance system before I can do anything. How will Master achieve that?"
In short, he was asking me to upload him to the security system manually. Anything else – hacking the surveillance – came after.
"Don't worry about it."
I found a streetlight that had a surveillance camera attached to it.
With a screwdriver, I opened the junction board of the streetlight and connected my intercom with its system.
"This works?" Nutless, who thought we were going to break into a high-level security building, uttered with his signature mechanical voice.
"You needed manual access to the system. We can do it with any device connected to the mainframe, even a surveillance camera." I shrugged.
I stood out on the street.
It seemed peculiar that a student was opening the junction box of the streetlight. However, no one cared enough to stop me.
"Give me a few minutes." Nutless dived inside the system.
I nodded absentmindedly.
My eyes followed the man who came out of the Academic Cell building.
He had a gray goatee and looked like a scholar. It was clear that he was a high-ranking individual from his attire.
"William Jenkins," I muttered.
Meeting him like this jogged my memory of the game.
William was a member of Academic Cell, the people who passed the applications for the Stellar Academy Entrance Test.
He used his authority to blackmail and extort students.
Doll would raid the Academic Cell in the upcoming days. It was part of her plan to clean the academy's filth.
Depending on her success or failure, Ezio might need to save her.
Not that it mattered to me.
Attacking William would attract the attention of troublesome individuals. I wasn't strong enough to fight them yet.
"Done. I have access to the majority of security cameras in Sector A. As for other sectors, it will take a bit of time." Nutless flew out of the junction box.
His spherical hologram looked more defined. It was as if he was trying to show he had received an upgrade.
A subtle change occurred in my vision.
I stared at the building next to me.
The building's wall became translucent.
Suddenly, the wall disappeared, giving me a clear view of the inside of the building. The wall was still there. I could see through it.
"How is it?" Despite being toneless, Nutless couldn't hide his smugness. "I'm using footage of the building's interior and overlapping them with Master's vision. Master can now see anything in Sector A."
As I swept my gaze across the street, I was able to peek inside every building and corner.
If I just willed, I could also see what was happening on the other side of the city.
[Omniscient Eyes]
It was the name given by the players to Nutless' ability to see anything going on at Stellar Academy.
Since I was familiar with the ability, I knew its limitations.
"Stop bragging. It's not like we can see into protected zones."
High-grade Genius' protected important areas. We would be caught if Nutless tried to hack into their system.
In the worst case, we could be hacked ourselves.
Nutless ran a scan over Sector A, trying to find a perfect target.
"Why are we doing this so close to my dorm?" I questioned as I followed the person Nutless designated as the target.
"I will need to alter the surveillance data from the dorm to the place where Master would do the deed. The farther it is, the more data I will need to alter and the easier it is for us to get caught," Nutless explained.
I entered the taxi.
"Residential Area 51," I told the driver.
It was the home address of the target we were following.
Nutless created a profile of the target using the backlog of security footage.
[Name: Kyle Brown]
[Job: Member of Space Shuttle Runway at Sector A.]
[Power Level: 12]
[Crimes: Helped Criminal Syndicate 'Rinascita' gain foothold in Stellar Academy, Opened a channel for 'Gremlin' drugs into Stellar Academy, Helped in the kidnapping of a first-year Student, Indirectly responsible for the death of three over-drugged coworkers…]
The list was surprisingly long.
The target, Kyle, used his job at the runway to sneak in various illegal substances into the Academy.
After reaching the residential area, I waited for Kyle's taxi. He would soon arrive.
I arrived early to scout the area.
Twenty minutes passed but Kyle didn't appear. Even if I used a shortcut to overtake him, he should have arrived already.
"He is at the park," Nutless told me.
It didn't take me long to locate Kyle.
He was walking with a woman in her thirties.
A seven-year-old child returned with a ball and held Kyle's hand.
"He has a family?" I questioned Nutless.
"Yes, it is easier this way. If anything goes wrong, we can use his family to corner him," He answered mechanically.
The woman and the child were unaware about Kyle's crimes. To them, he was a perfect husband and father.
My stomach churned at the sight.
"...Can you find another target?"
"Without a family?"
"...Yes."
Nutless stared at me for a while.
"I advise against it. Master originally asked for irredeemable trashes. If I include the new condition, all targets in Sector A are those who are stronger than Master, or have high-level security protecting them, or live in groups that Master can't defeat."
He added, "Even Kyle has connections to higher-ups. Eliminating him comes with its own risks. However, he is the most manageable one for Master. Anyone else and the success probability will fall sharply."
"...I see." I turned around to leave.
"Where is Master going? We still have to eliminate the target."
"I'll do it tomorrow."
[Tutorial Quest: Commit murder and have the news made public.]
[Time Remaining: 21 hours 46 minutes]
